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EPCC and REMUS take center stage at NextEnergy
Military applications spur Michigan’s alternative energy manufacturing effort
Keith W. Cooley, President and CEO, NextEnergy
Some decades ago, a prescient 20th century American named Arnold S. Glasow remarked, “What the country needs are a few more labor-making inventions,” a wry commentary on the latest wave of labor-saving inventions. But now, as 2009 fast approaches, his witticism carries a desperate ring of truth. Because when Americans stop making things, America stops working. American manufacturing jobs pay the salaries that are then spent in all of the other sectors; service, retail, food, travel, restaurants, entertainment, hard goods, soft goods, and so on. The buck doesn’t stop at manufacturing … it starts there.
And Michigan’s alternative and renewable energy capacity is fully in the game, exemplified by two new manufactured products shepherded by NextEnergy. The first is Titan Energy Worldwide’s REMUS unit (Renewable Energy Mobile Utility System) now being tested on NextEnergy’s Alternative Fuels Platform. REMUS is essentially a 7-ton rechargeable lithium-ion battery pack used to supply HVAC, perimeter lighting, and computer-grade electricity in the field for military applications. REMUS can recharge its batteries in numerous ways; via fossil fuel generation, portable solar panels, even wind power. REMUS is a machine that only Americans can build, and they can only build it in America (predominantly in Michigan.) Once it fulfills its military obligations, REMUS can then be mass produced in high quantities for many other non-military applications in the future.
Our second product on display this season is the EPCC module (Electronic Power Control & Conditioning) developed by NextEnergy for TARDEC-NAC and being constructed in Muskegon, Michigan by Coffman Electric and Newkirk Electric. EPCC is at the absolute cutting edge of energy technology; a machine that takes a variety of electrical inputs from sources as diverse as unsteady grids in foreign nations, generators, renewable energy resources, etc. and combines this mix of spotty, inconsistent power sources into a single smooth flow of computer-grade electrical power. Like REMUS, EPCC is made in America by Americans (Michigan workers, specifically) and has countless applications beyond the military applications for which it has been designed and is being built.
Learn more about Titan Energy Worldwide’s REMUS and TARDEC-NAC’s EPCC on our Web site at nextenergy.org.
Efforts like these are what drives NextEnergy every day; developing the technology and the talent necessary to design and manufacture products like REMUS and EPCC in Michigan. We know how to build. We just need to develop more things to build.
Everybody reading this report has an idea or two (or five) on what Michigan needs to build in order to manufacture our way out of the recession in which we find our state. So get involved. Do your homework. Attend conferences. Learn what the market needs and then develop solutions that meet those needs. Don’t wait for someone else to solve Michigan’s problems. Because it’s not someone else’s problem. It’s our problem. Yours and mine.
More to come…
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Wind turbine to rise at Kalamazoo Valley CC campus
Known once as “The Windmill City,” Kalamazoo will be going back to the future when work begins this month on bringing a 150-foot wind turbine to KVCC’s Texas Township Campus. With the college receiving a special-use permit and an approval of a site plan this week from the Texas Township Planning Commission, the 50-kilowatt unit with its 125-foot tower and trio of 25-foot blades should be installed between Christmas and New Year’s Day, and be ready to generate 15 percent of the energy needed to power the technical wing at KVCC by the first of 2009. KVCC’s wind turbine, which could be the first of four, will overlook the soccer and ball fields on the west end of the campus. The $250,000 project is viewed as an investment in energy conservation and in technical education.
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Consumers Energy gets 28,000 acres for wind power in two counties
Consumers Energy said it had secured more than 28,000 acres of easements in Tuscola and Mason counties for potential wind generation development and is starting the process of testing sites. Construction started today on four meteorological towers in Mason County, on the Lake Michigan shore in West Michigan, and three towers in Tuscola County, in the Thumb. Construction of the towers, which are about 180 feet tall, is expected to be completed by the end of the year. In addition to the seven towers being constructed, Consumers Energy also will be refurbishing two existing Mason County towers it has purchased.
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GR's Cascade Engineeirng launches sales of small wind turbine
Grand Rapids-based Cascade Engineering formally launched its marketing of the Swift Wind Turbine in the United States and Canada. The Swift wind turbine features five blades arranged around an axis, surrounded by a ring about seven feet in diameter, all made of the same reinforced plastic material. The unit needs to be just two feet above a building's roofline. The unit will generate 1.5 kilowatts of electricity in a 30-mph wind. And it's quiet, with noise of less than 35 desibels at all wind speeds. To find a dealer nearest you, visit www.swiftwindturbine.com.
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New state laws mean opportunities for renewable energy
 Michigan's new state laws mandating 10 percent electricity from renewable sources by 2015 will mean an explosion of interest in wind power and to a somewhat lesser degree solar and other alternative power generation.
That's the word from the experts at the law firm Howard & Howard.
Right now statewide renewable generation stands at a little more than 3 percent, and that includes hydropower.
"That means we are going to have to ramp up pretty quickly, which in turn means there are opportunities for entrepreneurial developers of renewable projects, and opportunities for people who supply those people -- farmers with land for wind farms, concrete ready mix companies, skilled electricians, those with technology for turbines," said Rodger Kershner, lead attorney in Howard & Howard’s Energy and Utilities practice group.
The idea behind the bills, Kershner and fellow partner Jon D. Kreucher said, is that requiring more renewable power in Michigan will mean that the equipment necessary to harness renewable sources will be manufactured here, by the state's struggling manufacturing base.
"The thinking is that Michigan businesses will become the home to manufacturers of components and Michigan businesses will be inspired to generate renewable energy in better and often novel ways," Kershner said. "We have seen clients of ours trying to build manure to natural gas and manure to energy projects, trying to build wind generating projects. It really should take off now."
Wind power in particular plays to Michigan's strengths in machining and building parts. "It is not much different from an automobile, frankly," Kershner said.
The overall belief about renewable energy is that it may cost more in the short run, but in the long run, as fossil fuel prices rise amid increasing global demand and finite resources, it will cost less someday soon -- because the bulk of the prices involved in renewable power are fixed. Kershner said one friend of his likens it to the Interstate highway system, begun by the Eisenhower administration in the 1950s. "It didn't look like a great investment at first, but it brought a lot of growth," Kershner said. "There is every reason to believe that electricity generated this way is going to be cheaper than conventionally generated electricity in the very near future."
The bills also create incentives for small renewable projects, particularly in wind, in that they authorize true net metering -- if a home wind turbine is generating electricity late at night when all the lights and appliances are off, the meter could actually spin backward.
Kreucher said the incoming Obama administration is on record as a strong supporter of renewables, "because those sources lessen dependence on foreign oil and creates jobs here that can't be exported." And there are cost advantages in having renewable energy systems manufactured close to where they'll be used.
Currency fluctuations are also a factor supporting a homegrown renewables industry. "The whole industry will be a lot more predictable when we have domestic wind manufacturing," Kershner said. "The industry as a whole right now is whipsawed by the differences in value of the dollar and the Euro, and most manufacturing now is in Europe."
Michigan is also one of the few places in the nation where offshore wind generation is possible. And there is energy to be tapped from the state's rivers as well.
While our state government has been busy on the renewables front, our federal government has been, too: In the recently-enacted Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, Congress included an estimated $18 billion in incentives over the next 10 years to encourage the development of renewable power and energy efficiency. A 12-page book which summarizes federal and state incentives has just been published by Howard & Howard – you can get your own copy by making a request through the “Contact” button at www.H2law.com.
Note: This content feature was sponsored by the law firm of Howard & Howard. For information on how you can sponsor content in the Blue Box, contact Jeff Lasser at (248) 455-7380 or jeff.lasser@cbsradio.com.
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Ricardo wins Army contract for fuel efficiency
Ricardo, the British auto engineering supplier with its United States headquarters in Wayne County's Van Buren Township, said it had won a "multi-million dollar" contract to identify the best combinations of technologies for achieving the highest possible fuel efficiency for military ground vehicles. Ricardo will apply its TVFE (Total Vehicle Fuel Economy) engineering methodology to evaluate combinations of current and emerging technologies to define vehicle configurations that will reduce fuel consumption while maintaining vehicle performance. The project is part of the Fuel Efficient Ground Vehicle Demonstrator program launched by TARDEC, the United States Army's Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center in Warren. The goal of the FED program is to develop and define military vehicle technologies that will reduce fuel consumption on the battlefield and reduce the military's dependence on oil.
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Southfield firm expands nanotech additive to gasoline engines
Southfield-based CerMet Lab Co. has introduced CerMet-Auto, a ceramic coating nanotechnology formulated to reduce friction, which in turn improves fuel economy in gas-powered engines. Microscopic ceramic particles in CerMet-Auto are carried to an engine's friction zones via the engine oil, where they bond to the metal surfaces, providing fuel economy benefits for approximately 60,000 miles of operation. CerMet nanotechnology has been proven in both diesel-engine trucks and gas-powered passenger car fleets, with fuel consumption savings ranging from 5 to 15 percent. Details can be found at www.cermetlab.com/product/EFA.html.
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ECD sales, profits jump; company gets deal in Italy, too
Rochester Hills-based Energy Conversion Inc. announced a multi-year supply agreement for its Uni-Solar thin film flexible solar panels with Marcegaglia S.p.A., a leading Italian steel manufacturing company. Also Monday, ECD announced record sales and net income for the first quarter of its fiscal year ended Sept. 30. Revenue was $95.8 million for the quarter, up 104 percent from $47 million in the same quarter a year earlier. Net income for the quarter was $12.7 million or 29 cents a share, up from a net loss of $7.6 million or 19 cents a share a year earlier.
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EV maker opens engineering center in Pontiac
Irvine, Calif.-based Fisker Automotive Inc. announced the opening of a new engineering and development center in Pontiac. The 34,000 square foot center will house up to 200 engineers and designers, who will support the development and production program of Fisker Automotive's first production car, the Fisker Karma. The center's opening comes on the heels of Fisker Automotive's recent announcement that it prevailed in a lawsuit brought against the company by Tesla Motors Inc., which two weeks ago announced that it would close its Michigan engineering center. More at www.fiskerautomotive.com.
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Azure Dynamics cuts loss despite lower revenue
Oak Park-based Azure Dynamics Corp. reported an improved loss despite lower revenue in the third quarter ended Sept. 30. And the company -- which is just beginning to sell its hybrid and electric commercial truck powertrain technology commercially -- also reported several operational and financial milestones. Azure reported revenue in the third quarter of $1.3 million, down from $1.5 million a year earlier. For the nine months, revenue was $5.1 million, up from $2.3 million a year earlier. The loss for the third quarter was $8.3 million or 3 cents a share, an improvement over a loss of $8.5 million or 4 cents a share in the third quarter of 2007. Net loss for the nine months was $24.3 million or 8 cents a share, compared to a loss of $21.9 million or 11 cents a share in the same period a year ago.
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Ann Arbor's Adaptive Materials, UM set fuel cell flight record
The longest fuel cell powered flight of a radio-controlled aerial vehicle has been achieved by students at the University of Michigan and engineers at Ann Arbor-based fuel cell manufacturer Adaptive Materials Inc. Their plane, named Endurance, flew for 10 hours, 15 minutes and 4 seconds in a flight that lasted from sunrise to sunset on Oct. 30 at Field of Dreams Park in Milan. The previous world record, held by a California-based company, lasted just over nine hours. The student SolarBubbles team built the airframe, which has an 8-foot wingspan. Adaptive Materials funded the project and built the vehicle's propane-powered solid oxide fuel cell. More at www.adaptivematerials.com or www.engin.umich.edu.
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Dow Chemical proposes energy policy
Midland-based Dow Chemical Co., slammed by rising energy prices earlier this year, released "Dow's Energy Plan for America." Included in the plan is a goal of improving the energy efficiency of buildings and homes by 30 percent within 10 years, with appropriate tax incentives, public education campaigns and best-practice studies. It also calls for oil drilling off the American coasts with "state-of-the-art technologies that assure environmentally friendly production." Also, it calls for more coal "polygeneration" plants that convert domestic coal and biomass into "power, chemicals, plastics and jet fuel for military and commercial aviation" while sequestering the carbon generated. And the measure calls for expansion of incentives for renewable energy. To view the energy plan, visit http://news.dow.com/dow_news/pdfs/dow_energy_plan.pdf.
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Ilumisys debuts products, channel partners
Troy-based Ilumisys Inc., developer and producer of next-generation solid-state lighting technology, announces a growing roster of channel partners, two new additions to its product line and increased opportunities in the business and government communities. Ilumisys, founded in 2007, is a spinoff of Altair Engineering, a global software and technology company that has a growing presence in the energy market. With the support of its majority owner, Ilumisys has a deep research and development background that includes more than 25 patent filings. More at www.ilumisys.com.
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